We all now know that Mr. DeSousa was working here on an expired visa and breaking the law. DeSousa’s deportation is in the hands of prosecutor Alan Jackson and Pat Dixon who have the unique power to gain cooperation from ICE to provide a coveted Green Card in exchange for needed testimony.

DeSousa desperately needed Jackson and Dixon far more than he ever needed Phil Spector. Imagine just how fast DeSousa would have been deported had he not twisted the facts in a way that was useful to the prosecution theory?

I have a simple explanation of the real exchange between Spector and DeSousa on that horrible February morning in 2003. Lana Clarkson killed herself either on purpose or by accident. There is no dispute that Clarkson was both drunk and under the influence of dangerous drugs. Further I believe Clarkson found the gun while rumaging through Spector's property and assumed it was unloaded.

Phil Spector in an understandable panic frantically tried to help Clarkson by cleaning off her wound and trying to stop bleeding. Spector ran out side to summon help from Mr. DeSousa. Phil Spector is no great orator. His voice is raspy and soft and has always been that way. DeSousa spoke somewhat limited English and probably did not quite hear or really understand what Spector told him. The loud water fountain also plays into this mix.

Phil Spector wrongfully assumed that Mr. DeSousa understood what he was told and returned inside his home. Spector apparently felt comfortable that DeSousa called for police and perhaps an ambulance. Spector waited for the police and when they arrived admitted them into his home but was treated not as a witness but as a suspect.

The shock of the entire event took its toll on Spector and he simply failed to move as quickly as police wanted. The result was that Phil Spector was shot with a police Taser Gun. I can’t imagine Spector being coherent after that morning’s events.

The cops now had a civil liability problem. If Phil Spector is not convicted of a crime he will be able to sue the police for the wrongful Tasering. Was that the motivation to make a case for Murder against Phil Spector?

Despite the fact that Adriano DeSousa’s testimony is full of holes it was bought and paid for by prosecutors. That, as the prosecutors manipulated DeSousa’s future.

During the trial the prosecutors vilified Phil Spector for washing his hands. Blood has been recognized as a biohazard for decades now. We all must avoid getting blood on our skin and wash it away should that happen. Washing blood away from your own skin is not evidence tampering, its simple survival!

It really all boils down to who held and fired the gun killing Lana Clarkson? The DNA evidence had no reason to exclude Phil Spector as the limo driver had to say what prosecutors wanted to hear.

Here is my long time close friend, Raj Singh inside the home of Silver Screen terrorist fighter Steven Sagal.

Yes I hate the TSA and the bureaucrats that spawned their invasive and insulting style of pseudo-security. Unlike the TSA model, real security is not measured in inconvenience, aggravation or excessive cost in tax money and freedom.

Airline security in a post 9-11 world should begin with denying access to our airplanes ay anyone carrying a passport from an unfriendly country. The TSA, No Fly List is nothing but a cruel joke.

It’s taken years just to allow a few of our commercial pilots to carry firearms to protect their cockpits because of ignorant FAA and TSA bureaucrats. That’s too little help and way too late. Had the pilots of the 9-11 planes been armed that horrible day would have gone on barely noticed.

Of course ending the ability of trained and certified off duty police officers to fly while armed prevented the two now dead officers from stopping two of the 9-11 hijackings. What were these fools running the FAA thinking when they disarmed the cops on airplanes?

TSA Ignorance Or Bigotry?

There is an East Indian religion unlike many religions that accepts all faiths and promotes the love thy neighbor approach to life. It’s not a Christian religion but it embraces the Christian ideal of living life. That is the 600 year-old Sikh religion.

Sikhs are kind, helpful and trustworthy. Sikhs have repetedly been the murder targets of fundamentalist Muslims and have suffered massacres of their women and children over the centuries.

Sikhs have been chosen to be soldiers and defend the larger civilized countries of the world and they have done so with distinction.

Yes I have some long-time and very close Sikh friends. I have been their guest in India and have made trips to the center of their faith, The Golden Temple. When you arrive at the Golden temple you stand in line with members of every faith on earth as they pass through this sacred shrine. Unlike some religions nobody makes an overt effort at converting people to the Sikh religion. No matter who you are or where you come from the Sikhs will make sure you have food and even a place to rest from your journey.

In the theater of international terrorism Sikhs have always been on the side of the good guys.

For Sikh males the turban is an important religious vestment. They also must not shave or cut their hair. Other items worn by Sikh include a simple base-metal bracelet and a short sword. In America the Sikhs have passed on carrying the sword to conform to various federal, local and state laws.

For Sikhs the turban must be worn at all times in public and is not to be molested or insulted. Our TSA bureaucrats have now crossed the line demanding that the turbans be removed for inspection. Before they were satisfied with searching the turbans with metal detectors.

Of course there is not one case anywhere in the entire world where any Sikh has hidden contraband or a bomb in his turban. This is not an issue of profiling but one of silliness and insult and must stop now.

When do we draw the line in the sand for government to stop victimizing its own citizens? Yes there are many thousands of Americans that are Sikh and must be protected from unreasonable searches under our Constitution.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Okay, we all know that Gay men hit on each other in public restrooms. Most of us go in when we must and get the Hell out quick so we can avoid the Gay boys. I avoid any restroom that seems to be inhabited by loitering types.

The Minneapolis Airport seems to be a hotspot of sorts for men looking for sex with other men. Remind me next time I fly to use the lavatory on the plane instead. I find this whole subject revolting and have no problem with police arresting trespassers, loiterers, or people engaged in public bathroom sexual activity.

The Gay Foot Tapping Code is another matter. As long as they don’t tap my feet or arrest me for tapping my foot to some piped in music I don’t see the problem. To arrest someone for sending a coded foot tapping message seems to be a long reach even for the long arm of the law. To make a lifetime sex criminal out of a restroom foot tapper seems extreme. Imagine what the sufferer’s of that dreaded disease, Restless Leg Syndrome must be going through?

I don’t know what codes Idaho Senator Larry Craig was sending at the time of his arrest. As long as the code was not giving away our secrets to an enemy country I just don’t see what’s the big deal.

I would be just as annoyed to hear that Senator Barney Frank was nabbed for foot tapping. We all know that Gay politician must have been tapping his feet for very many decades.

Can’t we do something about the people that hijack airplanes or pilfer airport luggage instead of serial foot tappers? To reply to me simply send me an e-mail, I’m just not into the foot tapper’s code.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

I remember when I thought the concept of Court TV was laid out as a place to watch gavel-to-gavel coverage of high profile trials. That sounded so simple and so sincere that it had to be a good idea. During court breaks there were correspondents that took the neutral approach and reported on what happened but later the anchorharpies arrived on the scene led by Nancy Grace.

The objectivity ended and the prosecution was aided on every trial by the anchorharpies misstating the testimony to the viewers and of course those members of various juries that were violating rules about watching news coverage of the trials they are supposed to be serving. The actual courtroom coverage began to shrink in favor of a pro-prosecution and pro-victim’s rights infotainment platform.

KTLA-TV has real gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Phil Spector Trial. The bad part of the KTLA is during the breaks when Marta Waller rambles on with a pro-prosecution slant while insisting she is somehow neutral. Since they don't trade real trial coverage to hear Marta's opinions KTLA-Tv's web site is a far better place to see that trial. Perhaps when all the evidence is in Ms. Waller will learn a little from Judge Fidler's bias and Alan Jackson's win at any cost methods.

The Internet brought us forums for Court TV and other media outlets inviting the general public to comment on the trials. Even before the opening statements are made the good people on these forums have taken the side of the prosecution. They are the modern day lynch mobs.

These trial junkies cry for the so-called victims and demand maximum punishment for every defendant even before the first witness is sworn. Should posters dare offer an alternative view other than guilt, the resident posters demand that the poster be banned as some kind of a disrespectful victim hater. These trial wathers have the view that if any defendant who is acquitted is the result of a stupid jury.

My blog has been ravaged by at least two such forums, Court TV and KTLA-TV over my coverage and commentary of the Phil Spector Murder trial. My name has been taken in vain and they’ve called me everything but a human. I guess being singled out by these lynch mobs as a venom target is not such a bad thing.

Many of my readers notice that I only cover cases where I see injustice. Most of the high profile trials seem to be on the square and don’t need my attention. For the people on these trial watching forums, they need to live in a place like China where people are tried and executed with lightening speed often for far lesser crimes than murder.

What is a compromise verdict you ask? That’s a way for a jury to give the prosecutor and victim or their family something when the murder case fails. Some jurors believe that the defendant will somehow avoid jail if they can return a guilty verdict on a lesser offense, even though this is behavior is jury misconduct it happens all the time.

Prosecutor’s love to submit lesser included charges like Manslaughter or Involuntary Manslaughter to avoid losing the entire case. Prosecutors too often try this in order to win a lesser conviction as a consolation prize for their efforts through an illegal compromise verdict!

Because of their ignorance about mandatory prison sentences juries are fooled into thinking such a verdict will end in something like probation.

Prosecutors charged Murder and they should be forced to prove Murder. If they went after Spector on a lesser charge that would be quite different but that’s just not the case.

An Update! Judge Fidler ruled this morning that there will be no charge considered other than Second Degree Murder.

Just who is that man with the white beard now sitting at the defense table in the Phil Spector murder trial? He’s the new captain of the ship. Dennis Riordan is a renowned San Francisco criminal appellate lawyer.

Why an appellate lawyer you ask? These guys are experts in dealing with the errors of trial judges in crucial rulings that are unfair to defendants. If a defendant fails to raise an issue of a bad ruling at trial that matter can’t be later brought to the appellate level for review.

There has been an excess of questionable or close to questionable rulings made by Spector’s trial judge, Larry Paul Fidler that were adverse to fairness. That makes Riordan an excellent choice in the wake of the departure of former lead lawyer Bruce Cutler.

Roger Rosen has been the defacto lead attorney from the point that Cutler's participation was reduced to nothing.

Judge Fidler seems more concerned about his own popularity than giving Spector a fair trial. Fiddler seems to be really committed to become the only L.A. trial judge presiding over a high profile celebrity case that ends with a guilty verdict.

Is Riordan any good? Just ask Marjorie Knoller; she was a defendant in that notorious San Francisco dog-mauling case that resulted in the death of a lesbian. Riordan’s work got Knoller out of an undeserved life sentence.

Riordan did his undergraduate work at Colgate University and obtained his law degree from New York University School of Law. The California State Bar admitted Riordan to the practice of law in 1976.An update: Because of a hasty press release Mr. Riordan's role was over-stated. He is on board for dealing the complicated jury instructions. I would not expect him to deliver any portion of closing argument.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

That’s what Reuters news service is saying today. These are just the guns in private hands. If this is really true, according to the gun rights haters we should be awash with blood from millions of dead children. The fact is accidental gun deaths have never been lower since statistics have been kept on gun deaths. Despite the rise in population murders don’t seem to correlate to the amount of guns in private hands. Read the Reuters article here.

I have lamented my hatred of flying commercial airlines many times. I hate the privacy invasion and trashing of my right to be free from unreasonable searches. Americans have fought and died for the right not to be randomly searched like criminals. I hate the TSA weenies along with the theft from my luggage, delays and misery inflicted at the direction of ignorant government bureaucrats.

Our heavy handed and lawless government has exceeded whatever terrorism threat we have had from the Muslims. The same government lets Muslims travel on passports from countries that are hostile to America. If our government officials really cared about American’s safety they’d keep the unfriendly aliens off of our planes. The ”No Fly Terror Watch List” is yet another unworkable joke.

For the super wealthy, corporate jets is the solution to the TSA abuse, delays and aggravation of air travel. Underground corporate airlines of sorts have been established to move likeminded folks from coast to coast.

It’s time for a commercial airline company to offer travel with their own security policies in place instead of the government’s. They can end the searching and silliness for real security. Of course they’d need a waiver from TSA regulations and their own terminals.

Here are the proposed rules:

1. All pilots must be trained and armed with weapons. 2. All passengers except small children must have a passport from the USA or a friendly country.3. All Americans traveling with valid concealed weapon permits can carry their firearms on board the aircraft.4. The carriers shall train their employees to profile passengers for behavior issues. 5. All passengers must agree in writing to the policies or simply make other travel arrangements. 8. The airline will have the right to hire their own trained and qualified air marshals.

This would be the safest airline found anywhere and the most friendly to the civil liberties of Americans.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Legendary rock producer Phil Spector needed a legendary lawyer to represent him on that murder charge. Spector had more than his share of difficulties with the lawyers who have gotten huge retainers for their services. Picking a lawyer to help negotiate the mine field of a criminal courtroom is no exact science. Courtrooms are not the place where the merits of guilt or innocence stand on their own.

Injustice happens in courtrooms every day. There are lies, manipulated and manufactured evidence along with malicious agendas everywhere. If the right result is obtained it’s too often for the wrong reasons. Our system in just not what it’s cracked up to be. It’s more like Las Vegas only with higher stakes.

After the failed representations by Robert Shaprio and Leslie Abramson, Spector settled on New York mob lawyer Bruce Cutler. Cutler has style and the reputation as a heavy hitter. Some will argue that Cutler is more of a showman than a lawyer.

In any event Cutler was castrated early into opening statements of the trial by a prosecution slanted jurist, Judge Larry Paul Fidler. As a result the entire thrust of the opening defense statement became a train wreck. Another lawyer, Linda Kinney Baden caught the ball and ran with it saving the day.

The elegant and effective Roger Rosen was originally picked to second chair this trial for Cutler. After a few humiliating judicial slaps Cutler quickly became no more than a courtroom potted plant. I suspect that there were some really contentious conferences for the defense team to attend. Instead of a lawyer Spector hired a committee and getting a group like that to agree on anything is a challenge. The defense seemed to stumble in direction from the beginning.

This morning Cutler stepped aside and is no longer part of the defense team. Cutler never really seemed to fit into this trial after being so rudely slapped down by judge Fidler in front of the jury. Cutler should have left long ago because as a defrocked show pony he only became a distraction.

Will the jury give Phil Spector the benefit of the reasonable doubt? Has this trial become some kind of a sick exercise like the Romans used to bring to the Coliseum loaded with betting spectators waiting for a thumb up or thumb down?

We’ve seen a lot during this trial of everything but evidence that Phil Spector held the gun or pulled the trigger causing the death of the disturbed Lana Clarkson.

Gun-rights haters will do anything at all to remove guns from the hands of their fellow Americans. So far 22,000 gun laws and efforts to bring us 22,000 more have not made these folks happy. Their new focus was to take tax money needed for healthcare and schools and simply give it away.

The Chicago program was quite simple, A, “No questions asked” gun buy back. They advertised to bring in any gun whether real or not and leave with a pre-paid MasterCard worth $100.00.

There are millions of guns out there that did not cost more than $10.00 to manufacture. The cheap firearms filled the market need for affordable self-defense for the desperately frugal or just plain poor folks. Most often these low-end guns get equally low-end care having never been cleaned or oiled. After a few decades of total neglect and abuse these guns are nearly worthless, except in Chicago.

Why keep broken, unserviceable junk lying around when you can turn them into better firearms, accessories and ammunition?

Burglars and thieves need not take stolen firearms to an underworld fence when the City of Chicago is paying top money for hot items. This silly government plan encourages theft, burglary and robbery. Of course someone will get killed along the way during a crime manufactured by this insane government program.

The group called, Illinois carry posted the exploits of a fellow known as “john” to cash in on this mindless Chicago giveaway. This chronicles the experience of a gun profiteer as he exploited the taxpayers of the Windy City. You can read John’s first hand account here.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

If you need help for a police, fire or medical emergency you simply dial 911. That was seemed the best idea to pick this three-digit number to save time dialing telephones. Technology has changed and even the cheapest of telephones has an automatic dialing feature rendering the 911 numbers unnecessary.

Cellular telephones have replaced wired phones for an ever-increasing segment of the population. The 911 police operators have hated cell phones because they don’t give a fixed location for the caller. A large percentage of the 911 police related calls come not from crime victims but from suspects. The 911 operators want to be able to tell responding officer exactly where the caller is located. That’s difficult to do even with the newer GPS equipped phones. In order for GPS to work the phone itself must be outdoors.

Our law enforcement folks have spent our money aggressively trying to resolve GPS and technical issues related to intelligence gathering efforts. Law enforcement agencies are in the process of building massive databases using software for trapping names, addresses and the telephone numbers for future use by investigators locating suspects, witnesses, search warrant and wiretapping targets.

Lost in the shuffle are people who are in dire need of police, firefighters or paramedics. Also lost are people trying to report run of the mill crimes. A cell-phone 911 automatically gets you sent to the California Highway Patrol. From there you’re routed to LAPD who sends you to a voicemail jail of confusion. Add to the mix the usual slow response from LAPD and you’ve got endangered lives.

The 911 cell-phone glitch is really great for the FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics since a large percentage of callers simply give up and terminate their calls rather than report crimes to police. The Mayor can tell the news media how the crime rate has gone down.

Perhaps it’s time to back away from 911 call centers and give police and fire their own numbers again. Since there are fewer calls for fire and medical emergencies those calls can be handled with ease. Police should have two numbers, one for emergencies and another for reporting crimes when the suspects have already left.

Can the public be trained to call the correct agencies to deal with emergencies? If they are smart enough to use their cell-phones the answer should be yes. Perhaps for children or those not smart enough to call the correct agency for help a slimmed down 911 system can still exist.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

This is a relatively large planet with lots of choices of places to live. To rate these places you need to take into account freedom, taxes, crime, climate, local entertainment, pretty women, and traffic congestion. Did I remember to mention pretty women?

When I was just a lad of 20 I got a letter, an invitation of sorts from none other than the President of the United States. No, it was not for one of those fancy Whitehouse functions but an order for me to report to the Armed Forces Induction Center at 615 Van Buren Street, Chicago on June 25th, 1968. I was drafted.

I won an all expense paid vacation to Ft. Leonard Wood for Basic Training. After three months of punishment in the worst military base in America, I caught a break of sorts. I was then sent to Fort Ord on the Monterey Peninsula to learn how to be a light weapons, combat infantryman for service in Viet Nam during the infamous, Tet Offensive. What a contrast.

As we landed at the Monterey airport we could see the Pebble Beach golfers chasing their balls all over the place. “Not a bad life!” I quipped. That was an understatement. I soon saw those breathtaking mountainside homes in nearby Carmel and I learned how real people lived really well.

I spent my time at Ft. Ord learning about and visiting San Francisco before the Sodomites had taken over that once beautiful City. I remember watching that late great jazz pianist, Vince Guaraldi in a club one night and a show put on by that Bolshevik gal with the great voice, Judy Collins.

I recall a romantic November evening with a young lady near a roaring fireplace in Fort Ord’s Stillwell Hall on the ocean. She worked as a civilian at post records. Was this girl the reason I was the only graduate of my Light Weapons Infantry Company to be rerouted with new orders from a tour of duty in Viet Nam to Germany? I will never know.

Although I escaped Viet Nam I spent the rest of my time as a medical corpsman in Germany. I’m as proud of that service as if I had returned from Viet Nam with a chest full of medals.

I just got a simple investigative assignment that took me back to Monterey last night and oh so many memories. A stroll down Fisherman’s Warf with a serving of fresh fried Calamari and fries with cocktail sauce put me in retro-shock. Why the Hell didn’t I move here once I got out of the Army?

The thing I noticed the most was that this was a beautiful Friday night and at this tourist Mecca I could not find a panhandler, vagrant or gangbanger. In fact I never even saw a single cop! There were just really nice people enjoying the evening out along the sea. Wow! Whatever they have in the water here must be good!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Ridiculous! Don't expect Chelle to invite you to any victory party, despite your work for their team.

Dawn

Note: For those that don’t know, Chelle is Phil Spector’s young wife.

My response to Dawn:Dear Dawn,

A murder trial is not a sporting event. Most people charged with murder who are forced to stand trial who and later acquitted find their lives destroyed anyway. Even the truly innocent lose careers, marriages and their children. Most former suspects are usually bankrupted suffer foreclosures and repossessions.

The problem with the Spector case is we have to guess what really happened. In a case like this it too often boils down to a popularity contest between the dead and the accused.

It took nearly a year for prosecutors and cops to sell their murder theory on a Grand Jury. This is an especially weak case shored up on Spector's old lovers who now hate him. Only recently could such "evidence" be allowed in a felony trial in California.

No I am not working for Phil Spector. I don't anticipate ever meeting him although I would have worked on his case as aggressively any felony defense mater I ever handled. A private investigator's job is to uncover lies, backgrounds and locate witnesses that can bring truth forward. We can't manufacture evidence favorable to our positions. That never works except to damage our clients further.

You can read and see video about one of my own muder suspect clients, Ronnie Barlow right here.

I hope this will cause you to treat murder trials with greater respect for the serious inquests that they really are. Be glad you live in a free country that at least puts suspects on trial before they punish them.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Legendary record producer, Phil Spector is on trial for his life. A woman we all now know, Lana Clarkson was addicted to narcotic drugs and alcohol as well as being impaired by them. Clarkson was found dead in Spector’s home and now Phil Spector is charged with killing her.

Lana Clarkson was desperate, destitute, and depressed. We also discovered during this trial that Clarkson forged letterheads and the signatures of entertainment executives on letters promising future work and extolling her immense talents as a performer. The letters were not simply used to puff her resume but to swindle people she knew out of $60,000.00 to fund her pathetic video, Lana Unleashed. Clarkson had yet another habit we were informed about during the trial. She would steal drugs from the medicine cabinets of her own friends to satisfy her drug addiction.

My theory is a simple one. Lana Clarkson, a stranger to Phil Spector came to his home as a paid prostitute. It's now clear she had some sexual activity with Phil Spector. I believe Lana Clarkson was searching and pilfering Spector's home when she found one of Phil Spector’s guns. I also believe Spector caught her and because she was drugged up and drunk she recklessly tried to put on a show with the gun she removed and simply killed herself.

As for the parade of what I’ve called, Bimbos, Spector’s old girlfriends came in and all told decades old stories of Spector behaving badly with firearms where nobody ever got hurt.

The significant difference between the Bimbos and Ms. Clarkson is really quite simple. Every one of the Bimbos who testified for the prosecution was well acquainted with Spector sleeping with and working for him for years. If you believe these women and I don’t, you could argue that Spector earned his right to womanize and abuse them. They all to a one said Phil Spector was always a perfect gentlemen for many moths or even years before these alleged assaults took place. Lana Clarkson had only known Phil Spector for a few hours.

The recently changed California Evidence Code(1101b)allows the court to taint a jury with ancient allegations provided that conduct was reasonably similar in nature. However the prejudice of the evidence must not outweigh its probative value. The changes made in the code were never well thought out but until modified are there, as is. The judge has descresition to disallow bringing 1101b material forward.

Since there has never once been a case suggested where Phil Spector revealed his "eccentric side" to strangers but instead to lovers, confidants and trusted employees this does not fit into 1101b material. Phil Spector is not getting a fair trial in Judge Fidler's court.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

This trial seems to have no orderly progression. It will take a scorecard to guess who rested and what’s next. Throughout the proceedings various publicity seeking parasites appeared to throw their hateful and irrelevant testimony at the jury.

Today the defense rested, well kind of… They may call other witnesses as the prosecution puts on whatever desperate trash they can find since they have no real evidence.

So far the prosecution has put on the testimony of everyone but Elvis. Everyone that is, except someone that can tie Spector to holding the gun of firing the shot that killed Lana Clarkson.

The defense formally declined to call Phil Spector to the stand. That’s the unique right all Americans have not to have to answer questions or submit in any way to interrogations. Our wise founding fathers saw the absolute need to curtail government inquisitions of its own citizens.

I can’t guess what’s next in this true three-ring circus. Someday, closing arguments will begin but who will guess that order in Judge Fidler’s court?

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Los Angeles-Law enforcement authorities finally arrested that infamous 32 year-old illegal alien, Elvira Arellano in Los Angeles. She came here to speak at a pro-illegal imigration rally. She had recently holed up in a Chicago church for more than a year after being deported twice before, only to return again. This time her crime is a felony.

Ms.Arellano was kind enough to dump her reproductive and childbearing costs on American taxpayers and now her son born here has full citizenship rights to welfare benefits and such. She laments being separated from her son who is now an eight year-old. There is no need for sorrow when she is again returned to Mexican soil she can have the little guy in tow with her.

Since she used a church to thumb her nose at all Americans I guess it’s only fitting for the church, Left Wing, sympathizers and her fellow illegal aliens to elevate this felon to sainthood now.

When will the export of Mexico’s crime, poverty and ignorance to our country ever end?

Thursday, August 16, 2007

This is a real faith test for anyone that believes in God. How much misery must these miner's families and loved ones have to endure? This additional heartbreak is beyond unbearable as nine fine fellows worked feverishly to rescue their comrades. These rescue workers were crushed by yet another cave in.

The AP photograph of this young girl’s anguish brought a tear to this old blogger’s eye.

I really hate this story for lots of reasons. I also hate the death penalty because witnesses lie and mistakes can be made. Further I believe no government should have the right to kill its own citizens except to save a life of a citizen or officer.

It seems that 40 year-old private investigator, Kathleen Culhane created phony documents in an attempt to thwart the death sentences of condemned convicts.

What Ms. Culhane really did was to give all criminal defense private investigators a reputation that we will have to somehow overcome. Ms. Culhane is sharing her disgrace with many PIs that are working hard to simply get their clients a fair day in court.

I have no sympathy for Ms. Culhane, and condemn her for not working in a lawful manner to realize her dream to end the death penalty through the political process. For her schemes this former PI could have been breaking rocks at the Big House for 19 years. Instead she drew a five-year term which seems pretty stiff. I wonder how that sentence would stack up against someone caught falsifying evidence in order to put an innocent man on death Row?

Judge Larry Paul Fidler has been grossly unfair to Phil Spector with nearly each and every ruling during this trial.

Judge Fidler has allowed nearly anyone on the planet to make allegations of decades old assaults even though no police reports, prosecutions or civil lawsuits ever tested the veracity of the claims. The prejudice of the material against Phil Spector far outweighs any probative value.

Judge Fidler has taken the defense lawyers to the woodshed repeatedly for badgering witnesses while allowing Prosecutors Alan Jackson and Pat Dixon to abuse defense witnesses without sanctions.

Judge Fidler’s findings that labeled renowned forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee as the “least credible witness” during a trial while the jury is not sequestered was beyond outrageous. Only a fool would believe that ruling was not published to members of the jury. The entire point of that contest quickly dissolved when Sara Caplan revealed that the object in question was not a small portion of Ms. Clarkson’s thumbnail. The label of, “least credible witness” has never been lifted from Dr. Lee by Judge Fidler.

Because Phil Spector is wealthy and famous his detractors/prosecution “witnesses” have been rewarded with fame, cash from tabloids and other possible financial benefits. Oddly enough despite these despicable claims of extreme violence, Spector has not physically harmed one person in his 67 years on this earth. That fact alone makes the allegations by Spector’s former bedmates suspect.

Judge Fidler has been caught up in the spotlight of being the ringmaster of a circus instead of a judge presiding over an inquiry into the death of Lana Clarkson and an allegation of murder against Phil Spector.

Spector’s lawyers have shown nothing but dignity, class and respect for Judge Fidler. Judge Fidler does not deserve the respect the defense lawyers have given him.

Judge Fidler lost any objectivity long ago. Judge Fidler should recognize that fact, declare a mistrial and recuse himself from all further proceedings. The jury has been tainted beyond repair.

Spector lawyer Bruce Cutler said it all during his opening statement for the Defense in the Phil Spector murder trial. He said that the cops had, “Murder on their minds.” It took nearly a year for the cops and prosecutors to sell a murder theory to a Los Angeles Grand Jury.

The truth is that cops and prosecutors get famous by arresting and prosecuting the famous. That is in itself an incentive to bring forward cases that should never see a courtroom.

The most significant red flag of bad faith to me was the refusal of the cops and prosecutors to allow professionals to conduct a psychological autopsy on Lana Clarkson. This is the standard practice for medical examiners in similar cases to determine the true state of mind and suicidal tendencies of a person found dead where suicide, drug abuse or murder is not clear-cut.

The mind probing post-mortem would have opened medical records and included the input of the people treating Lana Clarkson for depression, substance abuse and pain. Her friends, family and others familiar with her history would have been interviewed. The professionals would then render their own opinion to aid in the fact-finding process.

The deliberate sidestepping of the psychological autopsy of Lana Clarkson has a foul odor to it that permeates the entire prosecution. My question is simple what were the cops and prosecutors trying to hide?

Saturday, August 04, 2007

In America’s ugly past, the quick answer to an infamous crime was for a lynch mob to find hated suspects responsible for an infamous transgression and hang them. Thoughts and acts of retribution somehow perceived by most humans as a way of making a horrible situation better. Along the way the lynch mobs hanged a lot of innocent people. Too many people are frustrated and can’t wait for the criminal justice system with its checks and balances to bring about a fair resolution.

We’ve outlawed the lynch mob but it’s come back in another insidious form. Mass news coverage of the disappearances, murders or mysterious deaths of, young, pretty, White women has given the lynceh mob new life.

You may ask, who are the leaders of these modern day lynch mobs? They are the commentators of radio, TV and the Internet. Nancy Grace, Bill O'Reilly and an assortment of people are the new lynch mob leaders. These influential folks take a fraction of the investigative information that may be in itself inaccurate and use it to pollute the minds of their audience just as any other mob organizer would.

The truth is that the misinformation influences the actual judges and juries involved in the factfinding process.

From expierence I can say for a fact that people sitting on today's juries use the Google search engine to research the defendants and witnesses that appear before them. Yes that's in total violation of the rules to avoid news reports and broadcasts.

This works best if the victim is female, seems sympatric and attractive. Names that come to mind are Laci Peterson, Natalie Holloway, and Lana Clarkson. Irrespective of our perceptions two of these women’s manner and cause of deaths were never determined. Natalie Holloway is a missing person who we presume is dead. Laci Peterson was found dead but nobody ever established just how she died but a jury guessed she was murdered and that her lying and cheating husband must have killed her. Of course they don’t know how he killed her.

Lana Clarkson either died at her own hands or Phil Spector's. Was it suicide,an accident or murder? If it was an accident, who held the gun and pulled the trigger? Peole want to believe what they want to believe. The truth plays little part in that process.

In the Peterson case the court watchers were as much of a lynch mob as any in history. The courthouse mob actually cheered and celebrated when the jury convicted Scott Peterson!

This lynch mob mentality has had a major influence over changing or legal system to make it easier for prosecutors to win convictions. First, through the bogus issue of, so-called victim’s rights. Our founding fathers knew that victims don’t need special rights and did not provide for them. Second through the elimination of Statutes of Limitations that prevented criminal prosecutions for crimes not reported for more than seven years.

Changes to the Statute of Limitations has brought on the epidemic of Catholic priests to be prosecuted for sexual abuse claims made by alleged victims more than 30 years after the acts were to have occurred. Of course in each and every priest case the accuser has a companion civil that usually nets over $1 million dollars. Could money somehow motivate people to make phony sex abuse claims?

We’ve changed the rules of evidence to allow testimony of people about incidents remote in time to a current accusation such as in the case of suspected killer, Phil Spector’s old bedmates.

Along the way there is another strange phenomenon and that is the canonization of parents of murder victims. John Walsh, Max Klass, and Beth Holloway Twittty along with a host of others have capitalized on their newfound victim fame in a big way.

Today there is a heavy thumb resting on the scales of justice favoring the conviction of scapegoats.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

The talked about, expensive and never paid for video project was itself unleashed at the Phil Spector trial during testimony of Clarkson’s former talent agent, Nick Terzian. Testimony revealed that Terzian prudently never made that video clinker available to casting directors.

The 30-minute DVD was not classifiable as a film, comedy piece or anything other than a sad attempt at self-indulgence. Lana Unleashed appeared to be a demo reel of some sort that was 29.8 minutes longer than the attention span of any Hollywood casting director, agent, or producer.

Clarkson appeared in a wide variety of costumes in a cornucopia of scenes. The writing was beyond bad and Clarkson took on personalities and accents she obviously had not studied. Lana Unleashed would quickly bring on the end of anyone’s entertainment career. Clarkson unwisely credited herself with the directing, producing, acting and writing.

I guess Lana Unleashed was an attempt at comedy. All comedy is born of pain. This was painful to watch and really magnified Clarkson's tragic life. The clips that hurt the most were when Lana was really well costumed and downright sexy. Those scenes would be interrupted and overlapped by scenes where she looked and sounded awful exhibiting exemplified bad taste.

Not a single giggle could be heard in Judge Fidler’s courtroom during this film screening.

Clarkson could have worked with numerous amateur film groups and starred in a simple four to six minute short film that was well written and interesting. Clarkson could have taken her wonderful existing tape and hired an editing professional to assemble in a way to capture the casting director’s attention for a small fraction of the money burned making Lana Unleashed.

Not lost in this testimony was the fact that Nick Terzian who professed to be a SAG franchised agent took 20% of Clarkson’s earnings. 20% is double what SAG agents are entitled to collect from actors.

Terzain claimed that Clarkson was a top money maker but records showed that after commissions she earned less then $2,000.00 the entire time he was her agent. It’s abundantly clear now that Lana Clarkson was not well served by her agent who sent her out for non-union scab jobs.

The Lana Unleashed fiasco along with Clarkson’s poverty, extensive medical bills, unhappy love life, addictions, and depression set the stage for a dramatic self-inflicted exit.

You can judge Lana's creation youself by watching a pathetic portion of LANA UNLEASHED.

What would happen to a group of American cops and prosecutors who got caught forcing a murder suspect to submit to a spinal tap without anesthesia and later injected him with a Truth Serum? They’d get a well-deserved prison term for violating civil rights of the suspect. The suspect would also be awarded millions in civil damages.

An additional result would be that the suspect guilty or innocent would escape prosecution, trial and punishment because of the egregious prosecutorial misconduct.

61 years ago this was the undisputed scenario played out in the case of then 17 year-old murder suspect William Heirens. Heirens pled guilty to avoid an almost certain short stroll to Cook County Jail’s very own four condemned cells and electric chair. That death factory was less than 100 feet from his housing unit at tier F1. The jail’s chaplain was busy that year accompanying condemned men to their dates with the hereafter.

It was Heirens’ guilty plea that prevented any real review of evidence or consideration for a trial. The guilty plea entered by Heirens made any trial or real appeals unnecessary under law.

The issues today are redemption, rehabilitation and if the release of William Heirens would depreciate the seriousness of the crime. The board has spoken and Heirens will continue to stay where the Voodoo practitioners sent him so long ago.